SAN RAFAEL / Storm makes repairs at prison tougher

Jim Doyle

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, January 29, 2005

Prison life isn't getting any easier. A storm spat down thick pellets of hail Friday morning on the yard of San Quentin Prison as contractors struggled to repair a broken water main and forestall a major plumbing problem.

More than 1,000 convicts faced the prospect of no running water or flush toilets for the second night in a row. Twenty portable toilets were set up under a shed and large canteen jugs stood ready with drinking water.

The burst pipe was discovered Thursday morning when water began seeping through the asphalt next to the prison's north cell block where more than 900 general population inmates and 69 of the prison's condemned inmates are housed.